obama was elected with a surplus of about three million votes. he won the election. he campaigned on this issue. again, the speaker can't take yes for an answer. the president has presented him something that would prevent us from going over the cliff. it was in response to something the speaker gave to the president himself, but again, i guess with the dysfunctional republican caucus in the house, even the speaker can't tell what they are going to do because he backed off even his own proposal. mr. president, the house we hear so often is controlled by the republicans, and we acknowledge that. i would be most happy to move forward on something that senator mcconnell said they wouldn't filibuster over here that he would support and that boehner would support if it were reasonable, but right now they are -- we haven't heard anything. i don't know -- and it's none of my business, i guess, although i am very curious -- if the speaker and the majority leader -- the republican leader over here are even talking. i mean, what's going on here? mr. president, you can't legisl